Francois Vleugels, the driving force behind the modernisation of Czech Unipetrol, is to become the new CEO of Czech chemical group Spolchemie. This is good news for the fellow whose abrupt departure from Unipetrol raised a few eyebrows.I interviewed Vleugels at 2008′s European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) meeting in Monte Carlo. He told me candidly about […]

Iran’s petrochemical industry is forecast to suffer a severe slowdown in investment following the re-election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The global recession and low oil prices will add to the country’s troubles, according to a fascinating new report by companiesandmarkets.com(Picture – Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the inauguration of Mehr petrochemical facility at Assaluyeh, […]

Ukraine’s chemical industry is in a state of collapse with output slumping 31.1% in the second quarter, according to Bloomberg quoted in the Tehran Times.Ships at port in Odessa, Ukraine Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty ImagesHere is the text: “Ukraine’s economy shrank an annual 18 percent last quarter, the second-deepest slump on record, after industrial production […]

New forecasts show that Turkey’s petrochemical and chemical sector is in line for a tough 2009.Turkey had become used to double digit growth in demand for plastics and chemicals, sucking in imports from Europe and Asia. No longer. Here is chemicals content of the report, just out:“While 2009 will be a terrible year for the […]

An investor from Asia is reportedly eyeing Hungary’s pvc maker, BorsodChem. According to realdeal.hu, an Asian investor has been buying up tranches of the East European chemical company’s debt.This is worrying for the comapny’s CEO, Wolfgang Buchele, who is worried that the group’s technology may be exported and his plants shut down. This all has […]

Download this global map of major ethylene chemical cracker projects by clicking here. This is on our forum ICIS connect and you may have to register first. This is a small price to pay for such a valuable resource!

Sabic will be hoping demand grows quickly to soak up production from its new low density polyethylene (LDPE) chemical plant at Wilton, Teesside, UK.This long-delayed project is now scheduled for startup in September, according to the UK’s Institute of Chemical Engineers.With all the other chemical plant closures at the UK site, Saudi Arabia’s Sabic will […]

More workers at the Wilton, Teesside chemical site were laid off last week after administrators Deloitte decided to mothball the PET plant belonging to Artenius, the UK division of La Seda de Barcelona which is cutting costs.A further 58 workers have been axed from a Teesside chemical plant which went into administration last month, according […]

It looks like Russia’s economy is still in the doldrums. The country imports a lot of non-commodity chemicals as the industry there is not highly specialised.According to the Kyiv Post, for the first six months of 2009 there was a 37.8% drop in purchases of polymers and rubber; soap and synthetic cleaning materials fell by […]